Seen in the News

[Stanley]

Any Geordie knows the answer to that question David. (They called it a worm.)

[Tripps]

Careful now - deep water ahead.

I assume you refer to the Lambton Worm.

I seem to recall that Sue is the site expert on the subject.

This came from Wearside - whose inhabitants take exception to being called Geordies. They prefer to known as Mackems

[Tizer]

NATO has now confirmed the news that North Korean troops are in the Kursk region...
`Nato says North Korean troops deployed to Russia's Kursk region' LINK
NATO refuses to send troops into the Ukraine war but if Russia can send in Korean ones perhaps we could send troops from non-NATO countries?

[Stanley]

It's worrying stuff Peter.
And THIS report of Zelensky snubbing Guterres is just as worrying.
Volodymyr Zelensky has rejected a visit to Ukraine by UN Secretary General António Guterres over his trip to Russia, a source in the presidential office has told the BBC. After attending a Brics summit in the Russian city of Kazan this week, Guterres had wanted to visit Kyiv, the BBC understands. "The president did not confirm his visit," the source told the BBC. "After Kazan and after he shook hands with the war’s instigator and spent UN Day on the territory of the aggressor country, it would be somehow strange to host him here." Guterres' visit to Russia - who launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 - was met with dismay across Ukraine.

[Tripps]

This seems to have escaped major coverage in the UK media.
Fire destroys German Fire Station

Interesting to note that the emphasis of the report is that despite being a Fire Station there were no fire alarms, and in fact they were not obligatory. (How amusing). The report states that " it burned to the ground because it had not been equipped with a fire alarm".

That is most unlikely to be true, and I would say deliberate mis-reporting. Just the briefest mention of the fact that the cause of the fire was " a battery charger may have overheated". I've resisted the urge to use the word "schadenfreude" as I don't have any here, but it's apparent that there are instructions somewhere on high, to downplay any fires due to the ignition of Lithium ion batteries. See similar for the Luton Airport car park fire. There will be inevitably be a major disaster, with much loss of life - but the march to electric vehicles has too much invested in it to change policy now.

[Stanley]

I saw the Kia advertisement the other day advertising the fact that if you had the correct domestic battery charger and power supply you could charge your battery in 18minutes in optimum conditions.
The snag for me was the fact that it would be 800W and 350kv. As you would say David, "What could possibly go wrong?"

[PanBiker]

Did you see the footage of the Mercedes electric car spontaneously bursting into flames on the owners drive while parked overnight. It wasn't even charging, took part of the house frontage and garage doors with it. Even the higher end marques seem to be dodgy.

A few years ago I had a run in with a "dead " lithium flat pack battery I was changing in a tablet computer. To all intents and purposes it was duff, wouldn't hold a good enough charge to power the device. 11 volt or so when good, my meter confirmed it was only retaining less than a 3 volt charge. It was secured by double sided tape in the case and it decided to rupture when I was easing it out with a flat plastic tool. Dead internal short between positive and negative so all residual current was in play to create a very fast Roman Candle effect. Scary to say the least and makes you think about what would happen with a similar failure of a phone in your pocket.

Some manufacturers of lithium powered device recommend that you don't charge them overnight or unattended.

[Tizer]

Have a look at this latest news on the MoneySavingsExpert web site. Although it's about the car finance mis-selling scandal we all know about this is a sudden change sending shock waves through the car retail and finance businesses...
`Update. Landmark Court of Appeal ruling has the potential to shake up more than just car finance'
MSE web site

[Stanley]

"Some manufacturers of lithium powered device recommend that you don't charge them overnight or unattended."
That's advice I always follow Ian and the only devices I have that need charging in the house are my 'phone and shaver.
I've just realised that I have never heard of any problems with De Walt batteries charging in the shed....

Speaking of fires.... Have a look at THIS BBC report about the fire at BAe at Barrow yesterday.
Two people were taken to hospital after a "significant fire" broke out at the BAE Systems nuclear submarine shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness. The blaze at the site, where the UK's nuclear submarines are built, was reported at 00:44 GMT on Wednesday. Those taken to hospital were thought to be suffering from smoke inhalation and have since been released, BAE confirmed, with everyone "accounted for". Cumbria Police said there was "no nuclear risk". An investigation into the cause of the fire is under way.

HERE'S a depressingly familiar report on Israel's military activities.....
An Israeli military official has told the BBC that it carried out a deadly strike on a five-storey residential building in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza on Tuesday in response to seeing a “spotter” on the roof with binoculars observing Israeli forces. Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said more than 90 Palestinians, including 25 children, were killed or missing beneath the rubble of the building, which collapsed as a result of the strike. The military official said it was not a planned strike and troops did not know the building was being used as a shelter for displaced people. They also said there were discrepancies between the number of casualties reported and what the military had observed. The strike provoked a strong response from Israel's closest ally, the US, which described it as a “horrifying incident with a horrifying result” and demanded an explanation.

[Tizer]

That Israeli strike caught my eye too. They saw one man with binoculars on the roof of the five-storey residential building then blew up the whole building, civilian men, women, children and all. It's diabolical. Sadly, I believe Putin and his henchmen have seen the Israeli IDF getting away with killing civilians regardless of the UN and so have adopted the same approach...
`Russian drones hunt civilians, evidence suggests' BBC News this morning

Meanwhile even China is worried by North Korea's latest missile test, launched on a semi-vertical trajectory to 4,350 miles altitude.
South Korea had also warned on Wednesday that the North was preparing to fire its ICBM close to the US presidential election on 5 November. (BBC)

[PanBiker]

Don't they have snipers? Not in the remit when prosecuting genocide.

[Stanley]

I agree about the strike on the block o0f flats.
Did you see the news a couple of days ago that the second instalment of the polio vaccination for the kids in Gaza had had to be stopped because of IDF activity? I think there is a time limit on that. So children bearing the brunt again.

I saw THIS report this morning and thoroughly approve.
The chancellor has scrapped a controversial deal that saw the government receive billions of pounds from a pension scheme for mineworkers. On Wednesday, Rachel Reeves announced the entirety of Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme would be handed over to ex-coalminers and their families. The government had been entitled to half the surplus cash in the fund under a deal struck by the government when British Coal was privatised in 1994 - receiving £4.8bn over the last 30 years. The change will transfer about £1.5bn into the pension pots of 112,000 former coalminers and their families, the BBC understands. Reeves said it would mean “working people who powered our country receive the fair pension they are owed".
It reminds me of one of the first acts of the Labour Administration of 1997 when they too power. They gave the money back to the Aberfan Disaster Fund that had been sequestrated by the Tory government for the NCB to contribute to restoring the spoil heaps.

[Stanley]

See THIS. Not often Roughlee gets in the news!
A villager says he is "honoured" to live in a house which has three graves in the garden. Bob Sutton’s 400-year-old cottage lies close to the site of a now-demolished Methodist chapel, in Roughlee, Pendle. There are three tombstones in the garden, and 92 people are buried in the adjoining graveyard. They're fascinating things," he said, of the gravestones.

[Stanley]

THIS local news caught my eye.
A public health boss has described a sharp increase in the number of patients admitted to hospital with malnutrition as a "worrying trend". During the year to March, about 165 people were taken to the Royal Preston and Chorley and South Ribble hospitals because they were under-nourished, a 73% increase on the approximately 95 admitted during the previous 12 months.....
Anna Taylor, executive director of the Food Foundation, said healthy food was often the first thing cut by financially struggling families. "We are calling on the government to ensure that everyone can afford and access a healthy diet that will keep them well, and in doing so achieve the government’s ambitions to make our children healthier, relieve pressure on the NHS and grow the economy," she said.
An additional thought that entered my mind was that the increase in ready cooked or processed food might have a bearing. Or rather, the decline in home cooking of natural ingredients.

[Tripps]

about 165 people were taken to the Royal Preston and Chorley and South Ribble hospitals because they were under-nourished,

Or perhaps "were admitted for other reasons and then found to be under nourished " would be more likely I'd say. Makes a change from telling us off for being obese though.

[Stanley]

That's probably correct David.
Scientists who have studied nutrition and the history of food have identified another time when wealth did not guarantee good nutrition. It was when the rich were enjoying imported delicacies of doubtful value but being accepted as status symbols whilst the poor carried on eating what they had before, basic foods grown by them on any land they had access to. These basic foods were fresh and nutritious, far better for health than Lark's Tongues.....
In a strange way that describes the difference between my diet and anyone who is living off ready meals and processed foods. I can't afford their diet but am probably eating healthier with my home cooking.

Elsewhere in the news I saw THIS BBC report.
Rachel Canning was just about to take her son to school when the doorbell rang at her east London home. There, on the porch, was a bailiff acting on behalf of the Dartford Crossing seeking hundreds of pounds over allegedly unpaid fees for the £2.50 toll, known as the Dart Charge.
Read on for a story of how what should be a simple arrangement can go wrong and result in distress.

[Stanley]

We have been waiting a long time for THIS report.
A British barrister's "horrific" and violent abuse of more than 100 children and young men was covered up within the Church of England for decades, according to the conclusion of a damning report. John Smyth QC is believed to be the most prolific serial abuser to be associated with the Church of England, a long-awaited independent review found. Smyth QC, who died aged 77 in Cape Town in 2018, was accused of attacking boys at his Winchester home who he had met at a Christian summer camp in Dorset during the 1970s and 1980s. On publication of the findings, the Archbishop of Canterbury apologised again to victims, and said Smyth's abuse had "manipulated Christian truth to justify his evil acts". Smyth had also worked as a barrister representing morality campaigner Mary Whitehouse whilst he ran the camps for young evangelical Christians. Reports of his physical abuse of boys were revealed in an investigation by Channel 4 News, external, in February 2017. The investigation came after a report by the Iwerne Trust in 1982, which was not made public until 2016.
There is much more and it is not a pretty story. Question is will anyone be sanctioned?

[Stanley]

More on Smyth.....

[Tripps]

I think I watched the original Ch4 programme in 2017, but that was a long time ago. They have delayed matters, - deliberately of course.

"Justin Welby was a dormitory officer at a camp where Smyth was one of the main leaders in the late 1970s. They subsequently exchanged “the occasional card”, Lambeth Palace said last night."

The 'camp' was at Iwerne Minster near to Blandford where I was once stationed, so that caught my attention.
The Archbishop's position has been wobbly ever since, and I think it will just need a little push for him to fall over. I think the final nudge may be imminent.

It certainly should be. . . .

[Stanley]

I agree with you David.... And I am sure you will have been watching the wobbles over 'safeguarding' that have been reported in Private Eye....

[Tizer]

Something we should keep in mind this weekend...
`Nearly 70% of Gaza war dead are women and children, UN says' LINK
The UN's Human Rights Office has condemned the high number of civilians killed in the war in Gaza, saying its analysis shows close to 70% of verified victims over a six-month period were women and children. The agency said the high number was largely due to Israel's use of weapons with wide-area effects in densely populated areas, although some deaths may have been the result of errant projectiles by Palestinian armed groups. The report said it found "unprecedented" levels of international law violations, raising concerns about "war crimes and other possible atrocity crimes"...

...The UN agency said it verified the details of 8,119 people killed in Gaza from November 2023 to April 2024.
Its analysis found around 44% of verified victims were children and 26% women. The ages most represented among the dead were five to nine-year-olds. About 80% of victims were killed in residential buildings or similar housing, the agency added.
The report said the data indicates "an apparent indifference to the death of civilians and the impact of the means and methods of warfare". Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures the UN sees as reliable, has reported a death toll of more than 43,300 people over the past 13 months. Many more bodies are believed to remain under the rubble of bombarded buildings. The health ministry said it obtained full demographic data for a majority of those killed and reported that children account for one in three of that number. UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said in a statement that "this unprecedented level of killing, and injury of civilians is a direct consequence of the failure to comply with fundamental principles of international humanitarian law"....

[Stanley]

I heard those reports Peter and I don't understand why we can state bluntly that Israel is acting illegally and pursuing a policy of genocide in Gaza and being quite open about razing the built environment to the ground in preparation for annexation and settlement and still treat them as allies.....

[Stanley]

I saw THIS BBC report....
Qatar has suspended its work as a mediator in ceasefire and hostage release talks between Israel and Hamas, officials say. The country said it would resume its work when Hamas and Israel "show their willingness" to negotiate. It comes after senior US officials reportedly said Washington would no longer accept the presence of Hamas representatives in Qatar, accusing the Palestinian group of rejecting fresh proposals for an end to the war in Gaza.
Just when you thought things had got as bad as they could be.......

[Stanley]

Have a look at THIS BBC report.
Israeli strikes on northern Lebanon and Gaza have killed dozens of people including several children, rescuers and officials say. The Lebanese health ministry said at least 23 people including seven children were killed on Sunday in Almat near Byblos, to the north of the capital Beirut. In northern Gaza, the civil defence agency said at least 30 people were killed in Israeli strikes on two houses in the besieged enclave. The first strike early Sunday hit a house in Jabalia, killing "at least 25" people, including 13 children, and injuring more than 30, according to the agency. Another five people were killed in the Sabra neighbourhood of Gaza City and some are still missing in the aftermath, the civil defence agency said.
As usual the IDF spouts gibberish about precise intelligence but the outcome is still the same, women and children killed..

[Tripps]

Could be tricky for the Archbish when he next chairs the Synod.

Growing pressure